


10th Floor

by awkwardkermitfrog



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Creepy, Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 11:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11622516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardkermitfrog/pseuds/awkwardkermitfrog
Summary: Link goes up to visit Rhett and is delighted to see the elevator is in working order.





	10th Floor

**Author's Note:**

> When I was a kid, I used to check out these books from the library that were titled Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Between the illustrations and the masterful telling of simple folk tales, some of those stories still scare the crap out of me. In particular I remember the one about the man who killed someone next to his bed to get access to a window, the two little girls who were mean and rotten to their mother for a gypsy toy, and the one about the elevator. To this day, I am afraid of elevators. When I do have to use them, I grip the bars on the insides very tightly, for fear of plummeting to the bottom and to a painful death. That fear inspired this story. I hope you enjoy.

I looked up at the large apartment building and observed several things. First of all, there were many windows that were open, broken, or boarded over. Secondly, I noticed that the building was in dire straits in general. Graffiti covered its fire escape and where it had been painted, it was peeling, turning the door a rotten green color. I would have believed that no one lived in it except for the yelling that came through the windows, the television sets I could see, and the many intercoms that still had names next to them at the door. I didn’t want very much to go into the building but I had promised an old friend a visit upon my arrival in New York City. So, begrudgingly and wondering why he couldn’t meet me in a public place, I hit the buzzer next to  _McLaughlin, R_. 

“Hello?” A voice distorted by the age of the system came through the speaker. 

“Uh, Rhett? It’s Link?” I answered, then took my finger away from the button. Simply touching it made me feel dirty. 

“Oh yeah. Come on up. Tenth floor. Sorry about the elevator.” 

I paused and pushed the button again. “What about the elevator?”

“It’s out, so it’s kind of a hike. Again, sorry!” And there was no response after that. 

I growled under my breath. Not only was I expected to come visit this person, I was expected to climb an inordinate amount of stairs. I reminded myself that he must climb it regularly and would be used to it, not thinking much of passing it off on an old friend. Regardless it annoyed me. Couldn’t we meet somewhere more hospitable at least? I walked into the building and prepared myself for the hike.

It was a large lobby. There was no front desk. Alongside one wall were many mailboxes. The floor seemed to be covered in a layer of dirt that was at least an inch thick. I wondered if clouds of dust came up out of the ground when I walked across its green and grey tiling. Looking along the left side of the wall, I spotted an old elevator, which even had a dial at the top telling what floor it was on. I watched as it went from 4, to 3, to 2.... Rhett must have been mistaken. Excited, I walked to the elevator. 

When it opened, two people came out looking very ragged. One had wild, bushy hair and an equally wild look in her eyes. She looked at me and mouthed something, but I wasn’t sure what. Next to her was an equally strange old man with holes all over his suit. They walked out together hunched over, supporting one another, holding each other up. I looked and waited for them to politely pass. 

The old man took my shirt and grabbed it, throwing me off guard. “Don’-don’t go - d-d-d-down.” His wide eyes were full of something that reminded me of cartoonish insanity. I felt my heart in my throat, pounding, startled. “Don’t-g-g-go down.” He said again, his voice raspy, his body shaking. He let go of me, leaving me to stand there, unsure of what to say, my mouth hanging open like some kind of confused fish. I turned away from him and looked into the elevator.

It was a beautiful little room. An old fashioned elevator, its floor and walls were lined with red velvet. It seemed completely out of place to me next to the old, dirty lobby. It was also a little bit larger than the elevators I was used to seeing in other places. Its bars alongside the walls were golden, also in stark contrast to the rest of the building. I stepped forward and inside, still shaking from the old man grabbing at my shirt. “Crazy New Yorkers.” I muttered. I looked down and saw that he had left a smudge where the T had been clean previous. I frowned and tried to get the stain out with some spit and my finger, but it didn’t work. 

Looking up at the buttons for the elevator, I was surprised I could see my blue eyes reflected in the golden, metallic button holster. I pushed the “10″ and watched the lobby become less and less visible as the elevator doors closed, slowly taking me away from the outside world and trapping me in that small, metal box.

I began to travel upwards, and everything seemed normal at first. The elevator was functioning just fine. I figured that Rhett just had been using the stairs for so long he didn’t much care to see if it was working. Perhaps he’d been pulling a prank on me, hoping I’d become sweaty by the time I reached him. I looked at myself in the metal of the door’s interior and brushed some hair out of my face. My vanity was interrupted by a sudden, screeching halt. I jumped, grabbing the handle. I looked up at the dial and saw that I was only on the fifth floor. The doors opened, slowly again, and in the doorway I saw a man.

He was very tall and very thin, almost as if he’d been unnaturally stretched out. His skin was pale, and his hair was white. He looked as if he’d swallowed something very unpleasant, because his mouth was twisted in a way I can only describe as uncomfortable. He was dressed very nicely, as if perhaps he was attending some art gala in the city, with a suit and bow tie, and even golden cuff links. He looked me up and down as if he’d forgotten why he’d pressed the button at all. 

I felt very unnerved. Usually elevator doors close if no one gets on, but these stayed open. We were simply standing there, staring at each other. Finally I asked, “Getting on?” I looked around the empty elevator and back at him. When he didn’t answer, I joked, “There’s room for one more.” 

The man looked at me and I couldn’t help feel like he was made uncomfortable by my presence. He tilted his head and his brow creased in a way that suggested he was sorrowful. “Are you going down?” 

“No. Up.” 

“You should really take the stairs down.” His voice was cold and raspy, just as the other man’s had been. I swallowed the lump of anxiety in my throat and moved my hand towards the “close door” button. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I hit the button and watched as the doors began to shut. At no point did he attempt to get onto the elevator, he stop me. The entire time they shut, he stared at me, unblinking. When they finally shut, I was incredibly glad. 

I held onto the bar this time, feeling uneasy. The elevator came to a stop again, this time at the seventh floor. I watched as the doors opened. Two women were standing there. They were very old and looked as if they might at any moment crumble into dust. I looked between them and wondered if they were going to get on. “There’s room for two more,” I tried joking again. The women simply stared at me, not saying anything, not blinking, those wide, unnatural stares. I wondered who these people were, why there were so many crazy people together in the same building, randomly pushing elevator buttons. I looked down the hallway behind them and saw an old man walking down the hall, feeling the walls, muttering to himself. As I stared at him my hand almost involuntarily moved to the “close doors” button. I didn’t want to be stared at any longer. Again, the two women simply stood there, holding each other, staring at me like gold fish, unblinking, mouths open, eyes wide with a mixture of sadness and fear. The doors gradually closed on them and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I held the bars of the elevator again, unsure of what to think. 

The elevator came to another fast stop, making my stomach lurch. I was more prepared for it this time, holding on to the elevator bar. I didn’t want to think of what was out there this time. I looked up to see I was on the 9th floor - just one floor below Rhett. 

“Would it be better to just get out and walk?” I whispered to the empty box. As if hearing me, the doors opened again. I looked out into the hallway to see no one staring at me. No one standing there. I watched as a light in the hallway flickered, buzzing. The entire thing felt haunted to me. I froze with fear, more fear than I’d felt with the old man grabbing my shirt, more fear than with the other old man, more fear than with the two women. I simply gripped the bar until my knuckles were white, my heart jumping in my chest, my breaths shallow with anticipation. Someone had to come out of the dark, someone had to come out and look, right? Instead it was as if even the ghosts were quiet. I stared down at red carpeting and my own feet and found that I was afraid to shut my eyes. I looked out at the empty hallway, waiting and waiting. But nothing came. 

It felt like an eternity had passed when the doors finally shut. I looked up and let out the air I’d been storing in my lungs when I saw the little dial reach “10″. I held onto the handle and watched as the doors finally opened to reveal the 10th floor. 

I stepped out of it, almost leaping, and breathed in deeply. I felt a flood of relief wash over my body to be rid of it. Eager to get as far away as possible, I walked up to Rhett’s apartment number, 104B, and knocked loudly. After about a minute the door swung open to reveal a very tall old friend. I could’ve kissed him I felt so relieved. 

“Hey, Link!” Rhett grinned down at me. “That was fast. You been working out?”

“What are you talking about?” I grinned back at him and opened my arms, and we embraced like old friends. I held on for a moment in my confusion and then let go, still beaming at seeing him. “I took the elevator.”

That gave Rhett pause. He looked at me and frowned, biting his cheek. “Uh, Link, I told you. Elevator’s broken.” 

“No, I just rode up-” I looked down the hallway to the elevator and felt my words become trapped in my throat. My face fell slack with shock. My heart pounded with terror. 

There was no working elevator. In its place was caution tape and an empty shaft. 


End file.
